Furniture for flood victims

Goods destined for hard-hit Schoharie County

Members of the Delmar United Methodist Church loaded up trucks with donated household supplies and furniture on Wednesday, Sept. 14, to go to people in Schoharie County impacted by Tropical Storm Irene and the subsequent flooding.
Photo by Charles Wiff.

BETHLEHEM  Members of the Delmar United Methodist Church loaded up trucks with household supplies and furniture on Wednesday, Sept. 14, to go to people in Schoharie County impacted by Tropical Storm Irene and the subsequent flooding.

The church drew items from its donation cache that would normally be sold at the fall fair in November, and also put the call out for additional donations. Deb Suparmanto said that sale will still go on, and the church might even organize another shipment to storm victims.

“The community has been so good to us with donations,” she said. “We need dressers, tables, kitchen tables, good, solid chairs. These are the things people need.”

The church's Youth Group has been traveling to Schoharie County on the weekends to help with the cleanup and recovery, said Youth Group leader Beth Gould. The group also has helped communities ravaged by storms in Louisianna and Iowa, and Gould said the destruction just west of here rivals anything seen in those places.

“It takes your breath away,” she said. “You just don't think these things can happen so close to home.”

The church members stuffed two trucks donated by U-Haul and Glenmont Storage. They'll be coordinating with local charities in Schoharie to distirbute the items, which ran the gamut from televisions to sofas to rugs. The church's big fall fair sale is still on for Nov. 5.